Contact feeding mechanism



June 10, 1941. w. M. SPRY CONTACT FEEDING MECHANISM v .F'iled Aug. 13, 1940 Fatented june l0, i4l

coN'rAoa: FEEDING Mncnnnisivi William M. spr deceased; late of Revere, Mass.

by Alice Spry, executrix, Revere, Mass, assign'or to The Peerless Machinery Company,

UNITED PATENT QFFICE Boston, Mass., a. corporation of Massachusetts Application August 13, 1940, 'Serial No. 352,391

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a mechanism for feed.- ing elongate contacts to an eyelet-setting mechanism and is in the nature of an improvement upon the machine disclosed in Patent No. 1,850,- 052.

In the manufacture of radio and similar apparatus, contacts are used which are made of an elongate fiat piece of metal provided with an integral eyelet barrel projecting from one face of the contact adjacent one end thereof and the present invention relates primarily to an improved mechanism for automatically and continuously feeding such contacts from. a hopper into a raceway and delivering them to the eyelet.- setting mechanism in a predetermined align.- ment or position, and more particularly to an improved raceway which prevents the contacts from becoming clogged at the lower end of the raceway.

The primary object is the provision of an improved raceway which ensures delivery of the contacts one at a time from the delivery end of the raceway and which prevents clogging or double-feeding thereof.

Other objects will be apparent from a. consideration of the accompanying drawing, in which one embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevationof a machine embodying the invention and showing the feeding mechanism and a portion of the top set. of. the setting mechanism;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged. plan view of the hopper with the cover removed and parts broken. away and shown in section, looking in the. direction of the arrows 22- of Fig. 1;.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of the lower end of the raceway looking in the direction of the arrows 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4. is an enlarged plan view looking upwardly at the raceway in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view similar toFig. i, but showing one contact being. withdrawn from the end of the raceway;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section taken on theline 6-6 of Fig, l;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged partial elevationlooklng in the direction of the arrows 1-4 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged partial elevation similar to Fig. 7, but showingno contacts on the runway; and

Fig. 9 is a section on the lines ll--9-.of Fig.2.

The contacts I5 shownimplanin Fig. land 'in side elevation in Fig. '7 comprise an elongate plate l6 with an integral eyelet barrel ll projecting from one face adjacent one end thereof. The. contacts are also provided with an integral prong l8 projecting from one face. This prong lies adjacent one edge of the insulating material after the contact has been affixed thereto and it serves to hold the contact'against displacement with respect to the insulating material.

An integral base plate 2! (Figs. 1 and 2) forms the bottom of the hopper and the base of the raceway. The hopper side wall 22 is attached to the base plate and a removable cover 23 forms the top of the hopper. A pair of filter plates 25, 25 are secured to the raceway portion of the base platezl and their adjacent edges are spaced apart a slightly greater distance than the width of the contact (Fig. 2) and these plates are thicker than the thickness of the contact plate member It. A pair of face plates 26, 26 are secured respectively to the outer faces of the filler plates 25. and their adjacent edges are spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the eyelet barrel (Fig. 2). Screws 2'1 may be used to secure both the face plates and the filler plates to the base plate in superimposed relation. Thus a raceway is provided which has a runway permitting a contact to slide therein in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the contact.

The hopper and raceway are supported for slight pivotal movement about the axis 36 (Fig. I) so that the lower end of the raceway may be swung inwardly beneath the spindle 3| of the top set 32, and after the spindle continues downwardly and engages the interior of an eyelet barrel holding same frictionally thereon, the lower end of the raceway may be swung outwardly or retracted from the spindle to permit the top set and spindle to continue their downward movement and to complete theeyelet .affixing and clenching operation in conjunction with the bottom set. (not shown).

A transverse opening 35 (Fig. 9) of inverted T-sh'ape is provided through the hopper Wall to permit the passage of a contact therethrough. The base of the longitudinal portion of this opening 35 is located in the plane of the bottom of the hopper and the opening is located above the lowermost point of the surface of the hopper bottom, so that contacts in the hopper must be moved upwardly along the bottom of the hopper to reach the opening (see Figs. 1 and 2). They upper end of the raceway communicates with this opening. 35, the ends of the filler plates 25 and 25 being in substantially the same plane as the longitudinal portion of the opening and the adjacent sides of the face plates 26 near their ends being substantially parallel to the sides of the stem portion of said opening.

A stop 36 projects from the inner side of the hopper wall and is secured to the wall by screws 31 (Fig. 9). This stop 36 is located adjacent one side of the stem portion of the opening 35 and slightly above the adjacent longitudinal portion of said opening, as shown in Fig. 9.

A brush 40 (Fig. 2) is secured to the shaft 4| adjacent one end thereof and said shaft extends transversely through the bottom of' the hopper and is mounted for rotation in suitable bearings. A gear 42 (Fig. 1) is secured to the other end of the shaft 4!. A rack 43 is mounted for movement to and fr in the guide 44; the teeth of the rack meshing with the teeth of the gear 42, As the rack 43 is actuated to and fro, its teeth mesh with the gear teeth and rotate the gear 42, shaft 4! and brush 4!! first in one direction and then in the opposite direction. The

rack is preferably operated to cause the brush to rotate. substantially 207 first in one direction and then in the opposite direction.

Upon movement of the brush in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, contacts in the hopper are moved upwardly along the bottom of the hopper toward the hopper opening 35. As a contact reaches the opening, the edge of its plate member enters the longitudinal portion of the opening and rests on the end of the lower filler plate. As the contact moves. still farther upwardly to a position where the eyelet barrel is opposite the stem portion of the opening 35, the eyelet barrel strikes the stop 36 and the contact is brushed eyelet-end foremost into the upper end of the raceway, as shown in Fig. 2. The tail of the contact is swung under the stop 36 as the contact enters the raceway (see Fig. 2).

The inner edge of the filler plate adjacent the hopper opening is spaced from said opening a distance less than the total length of a contact. Thus when a contact enters the raceway tail-end foremost, the said inner edge of the filler plate 25 engages the end of the contact tail, the upper corner of the lower filler plate 25 engages the lower edge of the contact, and the stop 36 engages the eyelet barrel I1, thus preventing the contact from being swung around the corner of the lower filler plate 25 into the raceway. As the brush is rotated in the opposite direction, it strikes that portion of the contact which remains within the hopper and pushes it downwardly to withdraw it from the opening 35 and return it to the hopper; thus when the brush is again rotated in the initial direction, contacts have free access to said opening.

Thus the stop 36 cooperates with the raceway and particularly with the lower edge of the opening and the filler plate 25 of the raceway to permit contacts to enter the raceway only eyelet-end foremost. The shape of the opening in the hopper wall permits the contacts to enter the raceway only eyelet barrel uppermost.

As the contacts enter the runway of the raceway, they slide by gravity to the lower end thereof. e

The lower end of the raceway is provided with a spring clip 56 (Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6) which is pivotally secured at one end to the raceway by a bolt or screw 5|. The tip of the clip receives and holds the lowermost contact'in the raceway, the eyelet barrel of the contact resting against the face of the tip of the clip as shown in Fig.

4. The spring 52 tends to keep the clip in the position shown in Fig. 4 with the edge of the clip resting against the adjacent edge of the face plate 26. After the spindle 3| has entered the eyelet barrel of the lowermost contact, the lower end of the raceway is moved outwardly away from the spindle and hence the spindle retains the endcontact by frictional engagement withinthe eyelet barrel. The clip is rotated slightly around the pivot 5| and away from the edge of the plate 26, thus allowing the lowermost contact to pass out of the raceway as the raceway moves away from the spindle (see Figs. 1 andfi) As soon as this contact has left the raceway,

f the spring52 forces the clip 50 back into its original position with its tip across the runway.

, Affixed to the clip 50 is a separating finger 55. This finger restsin a channel 56 which is provided integral with the clip 50 and the finger is adjustably aflixed therein by screws 51. Th finger is provided with an upwardly bent flange 60 at its free end. In the normal position of the clip 50 as shown in Fig. 4 the flange 60 of the finger 55 does not engage any contact eyelet barrel, but as the lowermost contact leaves the runway (see Fig. 5) and the clip is rotated by that contact barrel in a clockwise direction (looking at Fig. 5), the finger 55 rotates in the same direction with the clip, and the flange 69 then engages the eyelet barrel of the next succeeding contact (Fig. 5) so that only one contact can leave the runway during each rotation of theclip 50. When the clip returns to its normal position (shown in Fig. 4) the flange 60 is r0- tated out of engagement with the eyelet barrel and the contact slides a short distance down the raceway until the eyelet barrel rests against the tip of the clip 56. This device ensures the removal of contacts one at a time from the end of the raceway.

Inthe normal operation of the feeding mechanism'there are always several contacts at the lower end of the raceway and these contacts have a tendency to overlap, as shown in Fig. '7, the prong l8 entering the eyelet barrel of the next succeeding contact. To eliminate clogging, a cavity 10 is provided in the face of the facing strips 26 adjacent the end of the raceway, as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. This cavity is slightly shorter than'the length of the contact and the lower end of the cavity gradually slopes upwardly to the normal plane of the face of the facing strip 26, thereby serving to direct the forward end of each contact out of the cavity. As shown in Fig. 10, this cavity serves to lift the prong l8 out of engagement'with the next succeeding eyelet barrel and to permit the end contact to slide freely to the endof the raceway.

The operation of the machine is fully automatic; the lower end of the raceway is automatically rotated beneath the spindle 31 and then away from the spindle in timed relation to the downward 'movement of the spindle and the top set. Thus the continuity of feeding of contacts to the raceway and of removal of contacts one by one from the end of the raceway is of great importance in connection with speedy and continuous aflixing of contacts to the insulating material."

Whatis claimed is:

1. A raceway for feeding elongate eyelet contacts to an eyelet-setting mechanism, comprising a backing member having a face for engagement with one face of thecontact, an elongate facing member having a face spaced from said face of said backing member, and a cavity formed in said face of said facing member adjacent the delivery end of the raceway, said cavity being adapted to permit the forward end of a contact to temporarily drop downwardly into said cavity.

2. A raceway for feeding elongate eyelet contacts to an eyelet-setting mechanism, comprising a backing member having a face for engagement with one face of the contact, an elongate facing member having a face spaced from said face of said backing member, and a cavity formed in said face of said facing member adjacent the delivery end of the raceway, said cavity being shorter than the length of a contact and being adapted to permit the forward end of a contact to temporarily drop downwardly into said cavity.

3. A raceway for feeding elongate eyelet contacts to an eyelet-setting mechanism, comprising a backing member having a face for engagement with one face of the contact, an elongate facing member having a face spaced from said face of said backing member, and a cavity formed in said face of said facing member adjacent the delivery end of the raceway, said cavity being adapted to permit the forward end of a contact to temporarily dropdownwardly into said cavity, said cavity having a forward end which slopes gradually upwardly to the normal plane of said face of the facing member thereby to direct said forward end of the contact out of the cavity.

ALICE M. SPRY, Ewecutria: of the Last Will and Testament of William M. Spry, Deceased. 

